Desperate for 3/4-day trip from Chicago

[GlennB]

Hi. My wife and son and I have been planning a 3 or 4 day road trip -- starting Thursday! -- but remain stumped for good destinations or routes.

We naively planned to go to the Black Hills, but then realized it was a decent 2-day drive in each direction.

Driving around Lake Michigan is fun, but we did that a few years ago. We've also done short trips to St. Louis and Madison, WI.

Here's what we're looking for:

- we like the road and don't mind if we spend most of our time on it (up to 7 or 8 hours/day)

- but we want to be mostly on scenic, quieter roads, not major highways

- beautiful sights are more important than tourist attractions (but the occasional tourist attraction is okay)

- hills are good :-) (around here you can go a long way before you reach them)

Some options we're considering:

- Minneapolis/St. Paul -- but we don't know what to see around there

- Wisconsin; maybe in a cabin on a lake? Or a better look around Madison?

Grateful for any quick ideas -- thanks.